Education and Information Technologies (2022) 27:229–241

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-021-10672-3

Mobile game-based learning as a solution in COVID-19

era: Modeling the pedagogical affordance and student
interactions

Akrivi Krouska1   · Christos Troussas1 · Cleo Sgouropoulou1

Received: 1 February 2021 / Accepted: 11 July 2021 / Published online: 23 July 2021
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature
2021

Abstract
The closure of educational institutions due to the COVID-19 pandemic leads imper-
atively to the utilization of technological advances and the Internet for enabling the
continuity of learning. To this direction, Mobile Game-based Learning (MGbL)
can be beneficial to teaching and learning; since, from technological perspective,
most students prefer to use their mobile devices, such as smartphones or tablets,
and from pedagogical perspective, incorporating gaming in educational process can
boost students’ motivation for learning and improve their learning outcomes. Hence,
this study investigates learners’ intention to use MGbL as an alternative educational
practice during the COVID-19 pandemic, by modeling the pedagogical affordance
of this technology and student interactions with it. As a testbed for this research, a
MGbL application was used for the instruction of the programming language C# in
higher education, during the lockdown period of 2020. The findings reveal that the
MGbL technology has a significant and positive impact on student engagement and
academic performance.

Keywords  Collaborative learning · COVID-19 · Educational use · Mobile game-

based learning · Personalized learning · Structural equation modeling

* Akrivi Krouska
akrouska@uniwa.gr
Christos Troussas
ctrouss@uniwa.gr
Cleo Sgouropoulou
csgouro@uniwa.gr
1
Department of Informatics and Computer Engineering, University of West Attica, Attica,
Greece

13
Vol.:(0123456789)
230 Education and Information Technologies (2022) 27:229–241

1 Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted human’s normal life, leading to numerous
limitations in all fields, such as market, employment, education etc. Regarding the
educational field, the spread of COVID-19 has as effect the closure of educational
institutions worldwide. Thus, it is imperative to use technological means in order to
provide better access to the learning process (Almaiah et al., 2020). Such technolog-
ical means include the development of educational software, either web-based envi-
ronments or mobile applications, which through personal computers, smartphones
or tablets, can be used as learning tools, without the barriers of time, place and
space (Troussas et al., 2020a). Nowadays, mobile devices have surpassed the use of
personal computers,1 since they are more accessible providing similar capabilities.
The proliferation of mobile technologies offers possibilities to revolutionize edu-
cation, combining mobile learning and game-based learning approaches (Chang &
Hwang, 2019). This is known as Mobile Game-based Learning (MGbL). MGbL
provides an environment where students can learn and/or test their knowledge using
gaming through mobile devices. As such, they are engaged in it, not only for leisure
pursuits but also for educational purposes (Huizenga et al., 2019). The related litera-
ture suggests that the use of MGbL improves the learning outcomes and students’
motivation for learning (Mivehchi & Rajabion, 2020). However, the relationship
between the interaction design requirements for the system acceptance by the users,
the educational technologies incorporated into a MGbL environment for enhancing
learning, and the pedagogical benefits for learners has not been investigated ade-
quately as in the way this paper approaches it.
Indeed, it needs to be emphasized that MGbL approaches could serve as an effec-
tive alternative for education in the COVID-19 period, since the majority of learners
had a smartphone, while a few had a personal computer. Furthermore, if a family
had more members, the procession of more than one personal computer should be
helpful but rather impossible. As such, smartphones were the tools that supported
users to cope with the imposed online education.
Analyzing the related literature, there have been several studies (Agarwal et al.,
2021; Muthuprasad et al., 2021; Tawafak et al., 2021; Vargo et al., 2021; Amir et al.,
2020; Xie et  al., 2020; Ionescu et  al., 2020) that explore the impact and effect of
COVID-19 pandemic in online education. However, the aforementioned stud-
ies examine learning management systems, web conferencing tools, social media
websites or massive open online courses as the main learning tools used during the
COVID-19 lockdown. On the contrary, this research investigates the pedagogical
affordance of MGbL as a means of online instruction amidst COVID-19 pandemic.
On top of that, it needs to be emphasized that in the era of the imposed fully
online education as a consequence of COVID-19 pandemic, a lack of learners’
motivation has been reported (Panisoara et  al., 2020; Iglesias-Pradas et  al., 2021;
Tawafak et  al., 2021). Therefore, this study seeks to explore the effectiveness of

1
  https://​gs.​statc​ounter.​com/​platf​orm-​market-​share/​deskt​op-​mobile-​tablet -https://​www.​broad​bands​earch.​
net/​blog/​mobile-​deskt​op-​inter​net-​usage-​stati​stics

13
Education and Information Technologies (2022) 27:229–241 231

the utilization of MGbL in tertiary education, as an alternative solution to motivate

learners, strengthen knowledge acquisition and prevent them from dropping out.
In view of the above, this paper explores the acceptance of the MGbL technol-
ogy in teaching and learning during COVID-19 lockdown, modeling its pedagogical
affordance and student interactions. Therefore, a Structural Equation Model (SEM)
was constructed, examining the relationships between the factors that affects stu-
dents’ intention to use this technology. In particular, the research model analyzes the
effect of both interaction design requirements, namely ease of use and enjoyment,
and educational technologies, namely personalized, collaborative and mobile game-
based learning, on students’ engagement in learning process and on their academic
performance. As a testbed for this research, we used Quiz Time!, which is an intel-
ligent mobile game-based learning application for assessing and advancing learners’
knowledge in the programming language C# (Troussas et al., 2020a). This system
was used by undergraduate students during the COVID-19 lockdown of 2020, and
the evaluation results show a positive effect of the aforementioned factors on student
performance, rendering the MGbL technology a key alternative learning approach.

2 Research model and hypotheses

The model, constructed to analyze the potential of the MGbL technology as a peda-
gogical tool, consists of 7 latent variables, which are the following:

• Perceived Ease of Use (PEoU). Perceived ease of use concerns the ease of
information technology as perceived by users. As suggested by the Technology
Acceptance Model (TAM), this factor highly affects the acceptance of the new
system considering the users’ intention to use it and their attitude towards its uti-
lization (Davis, 1989). Regarding mobile applications, it is imperative to design
easy-to-use interfaces in order to overcome the limitations on user interactions
due to the small screen of mobile devices. Therefore, the following hypothesis is
composed:

H1. Perceived ease of use has a significant influence on MGbL (PEoU ➔

MGbL).

• Perceived Enjoyment (PE). Perceived enjoyment refers to the level of enjoy-

ment the users experience while using the new system (Davis et  al., 1992). In
MGbL environments, this factor can motivate students and make learning more
pleasant. Quiz Time! provides such an environment through an adaptive and col-
laborative quiz game. Therefore, the following hypothesis is composed:

H2. Perceived enjoyment has a significant influence on MGbL (PE ➔ MGbL).

13
232 Education and Information Technologies (2022) 27:229–241

• Personalized Learning (PL). Personalized learning provides tailored learn-

ing to each student’s needs and preferences, promoting a student-centered
instruction (Troussas et al., 2020b). Incorporating personalization into educa-
tional software helps learners to achieve their learning goals and offers a more
effective learning experience (Xie et al., 2019). Personalization in educational
systems has been shown to be an effective approach for improved knowledge
acquisition, as reported in the related literature (Krouska et  al., 2020a; Lin
et  al., 2020). Quiz Time! provides adaptive advice to learners who answer
incorrectly in quiz game, according to their characteristics, for helping them
find the correct answer. Therefore, the following hypotheses are composed:

H3. Personalized learning has a significant influence on MGbL (PL ➔

MGbL).
H4. Personalized learning has a significant influence on student performance (PL
➔ SP).

• Mobile Game-based Learning (MGbL). This educational technology com-

bines learning with playing, making the learning process more interesting (Zakaria
et  al., 2018). MGbL promotes the active participation of students in learning
and their collaboration through peer gaming. MGbL can improve teamwork,
students’ learning motivation and their performance as well (Chang & Hwang,
2019). Also, MGbL has been reported as an efficient environment for students to
advance their knowledge through an entertaining way according to the related lit-
erature (Krouska et al., 2020b). Quiz Time! is a MGbL application for assessing
the learners’ knowledge in the programming language C#, combining personal-
ized and collaborative learning strategies with a gaming approach. Moreover, it
incorporates motivational strategies through an integrated badge system. There-
fore, the following hypotheses are composed:

H5. Mobile game-based learning has a significant influence on collaborative

learning (MGbL ➔ CL).
H6. Mobile game-based learning has a significant influence on student engage-
ment (MGbL ➔ SE).
H7. Mobile game-based learning has a significant influence on student perfor-
mance (MGbL ➔ SP).

• Collaborative Learning (CL). Collaborative learning enhances learning through

working in groups (Zakaria et al., 2018). The formation of optimal groups is cru-
cial for increasing learning outcomes through effective interactions (Krouska &
Virvou, 2020). Collaborative learning can have strong pedagogical potential and
support students through interaction, as stated in the related literature (Krouska
et al., 2020c; Mahawan & Langprayoon, 2020). Quiz Time! provides personal-

13
Education and Information Technologies (2022) 27:229–241 233

Fig. 1  Research model

ized recommendations for co-players, aiming to better knowledge acquisition through

a beneficial collaboration. Therefore, the following hypothesis is composed:

H8. Collaborative learning has a significant influence on student performance

(CL ➔ SP).

• Student Engagement (SE). Student engagement refers to the degree of atten-

tion, interest and passion that students show during the learning process (Heflin
et  al., 2017). It also includes the strategies that are adopted by the educator or
incorporated into a system in order to motivate students towards active partici-
pation in their education, with the intention to improve their learning outcomes
(Moubayed et al., 2018). Therefore, the following hypothesis is composed:

H9. Student engagement has a significant influence on student performance (SE

➔ SP).

• Student Performance (SP). The success of an educational system is considered

by the degree that the learning goals are accomplished (Krouska et  al., 2019).
Hence, the acceptance of the MGbL technology can be evaluated regarding its
influence on student performance.

Based on the aforementioned hypotheses, Fig. 1 summarizes the research model

used in this study.

13
234 Education and Information Technologies (2022) 27:229–241

Table 1  Demographic Characteristics Number/Level

information of participants
Age Female 19.2 years in average
Male 19.5 years in average
Gender Female 46
Male 54
Area of origin Urban origins 64
Non-urban origins 36
Year of study 2nd year of studies 100
Computer skills Advanced
Grade in studies 8.5 – 10 16
(Average of first-year 6.5 – 8.4 59
courses)
5 – 6.4 25

3 Research methodology and data collection

This paper investigates the pedagogical affordance of the MGbL technology

and the intention of students towards this technology through Quiz Time!, a
MGbL application presented by (Troussas et al., 2020a). In order to export valid
conclusions from the evaluation results, a representative group of students was
chosen using the probability sampling method. As such, the study took place
in a public university in the capital city of the country with the participation
of 100 students taking the mandatory course of the Programming Language C#
at the Department of Informatics and Computer Engineering of the aforemen-
tioned University. Students used the Quiz Time! during the semester where the
University was closed due to the spread of COVID-19. The demographic infor-
mation of the participants is shown in Table  1. All of them are in the second
year of their studies having passed successfully the first-year courses, and con-
sequently, they have approximately the same age and educational level, as well
as they have advanced computer skills due to their studies in computer science.
Moreover, 54% of them were male, and 46% were female. Therefore, it can be
considered that the population was balanced in terms of gender, age and aca-
demic level.
Data was collected using an online survey, developed by the authors. The survey
consisted of 21 questions, one for each of the 3 indicators that had been defined
for each latent variable (7 in total). A 5-point Likert scale was used in order the
respondents to rate their experience of the utilization of the MGbL technology. The
survey was distributed to students at the end of the academic semester, having a
return rate of 100%.
Data analysis was conducted using the SmartPLS2 software, applying partial least
squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Regarding the PLS-SEM set-
tings, the path weighting scheme was used, while the values of maximum iterations
and stop criterion were set to 300 and ­107, respectively. Firstly, the measurement
model was tested to confirm the reliability and validity of the model based on the

2
  https://​www.​smart​pls.​com/

13
Education and Information Technologies (2022) 27:229–241 235

composite reliability (CR) and Cronbach Alph values, as well as the outer loading
and AVE values. Moreover, in this stage, Fornell-Larcker Discriminant Validity Cri-
terion was employed. Afterwards, the structural model was evaluated to determine
the support of the model hypotheses. As such, we ran a bootstrapping with 1000
subsamples on Smart PLS for calculating the path coefficients, t values and signifi-
cance of the paths.

4 Data analysis and results

4.1 Testing measurement model

In the measurement model, the internal consistency reliability, indicator reliabil-

ity, convergent and discriminant validity were tested. The internal consistency reli-
ability was defined using the composite reliability (CR) and Cronbach Alpha value,
while indicator reliability was assessed with the factor loadings of the items. The
results show that all indicators’ loadings are significant since their values are above
.700 and for each construct, the AVE values are greater than .500, while the CR
and Cronbach’s Alpha exceed .700 (Table 2). Therefore, the convergent validity is
confirmed.
The discriminant validity of the model was examined using the procedure of
Fornell and Larcker (1981). The results show that the square root of the AVE
values for the constructs are greater than the variance of any of the inter-con-
struct correlations (Table  3), suggesting an adequate discriminant validity of the
measurement.
To sum up, the model’s validity and reliability is satisfied without violence in
data. As such, the structural model can be employed.

4.2 Results of hypothesis testing

The structural model is essential to test the bivariate relationships between the con-
structs included in the model. The results show that all the 9 hypotheses, proposed
in this study, are accepted, since their p value is above .050 (Table  4). In particu-
lar, the highest impact on student performance is by the MGbL technology (H7,
β = .606, p = .000), followed by personalized learning (H4, β = .425, p = .020); while
student engagement (H9, β = .136, p = .046) and collaborative learning (H8, β = .106,
p = .042) are of minor significance compared to the aforementioned variables. The
MGbL technology has also a high positive influence on student engagement, con-
firming H6 with the result of β = .564 and p = .003. Regarding the relation between
MGbL and collaborative learning, H5 is accepted showing that their relation is sig-
nificant and positive (β = .195, p = .028). H3 that suggests a positive relation between
personalized learning and MGbL is supported, since β = .223 and p = .026. Finally,

13
236 Education and Information Technologies (2022) 27:229–241

Table 2  Results of measurement Variable Indicator Outer Loading AVE CR Cron-

model bach’s
Alpha

PEoU PEoU1 .909 .748 .898 .841

PEoU2 .927
PEoU3 .748
PE PE1 .940 .595 .810 .821
PE2 .758
PE3 .793
PL PL1 .927 .739 .894 .839
PL2 .765
PL3 .879
MGbL MGbL1 .962 .691 .857 .780
MGbL2 .916
MGbL3 .970
CL CL1 .838 .654 .845 .740
CL2 .759
CL3 .812
SE SE1 .701 .642 .842 .750
SE2 .788
SE3 .903
SP SP1 .859 .638 .840 .722
SP2 .722
SP3 .808

Table 3  Fornell-Larcker PEoU PE PL MGbL CL SE SP

discriminant validity criterion
PEoU .865
PE .541 .772
PL .327 .194 .859
MGbL .406 .612 .268 .831
CL .365 .398 .239 .325 .803
SE .193 .378 .541 .456 .157 .801
SP .160 .232 .496 .756 .192 .449 .798

The values on the diagonal (square root of AVE) are greater than
their own row and column values (inter-construct correlations)

the results prove that perceived ease of use and perceived enjoyment have a signifi-
cant influence on MGbL (H1, β = .287, p = .032 / H2, β = .325, p = .038).
Fig. 2 illustrates the structural model of this research.

13
Education and Information Technologies (2022) 27:229–241 237

Table 4  Results of hypothesis testing

Hypothesis Path β Std. Dev. t-stat. p value Supported

H1 PEoU ➔ MGbL .287 .155 2.563 .032 Yes

H2 PE ➔ MGbL .325 .156 2.485 .038 Yes
H3 PL ➔ MGbL .223 .166 2.884 .026 Yes
H4 PL ➔ SP .425 .152 3.005 .020 Yes
H5 MGbL ➔ CL .195 .164 2.691 .028 Yes
H6 MGbL ➔ SE .564 .132 3.604 .003 Yes
H7 MGbL ➔ SP .606 .112 6.467 .000 Yes
H8 CL ➔ SP .106 .162 2.328 .042 Yes
H9 SE ➔ SP .136 .165 2.089 .046 Yes

Fig. 2  Structural Model

5 Discussion

This research explores the pedagogical affordance of the MGbL technology and stu-
dent interactions in such environments during COVID-19 pandemic, using a specific
application, namely Quiz Time! (Troussas et al., 2020a). The nine hypotheses, stated
in this study, were all confirmed, illustrating the positive impact of MGbL on stu-
dent performance and its acceptance by the learners, as well as its capability to be
used as a key alternative learning tool during COVID-19.
The findings reveal that Quiz Time! has a significant positive relationship with
students’ learning outcomes and their engagement in the learning process. Quiz
Time! is a mobile application for assessing students’ knowledge through gaming.
It provides a pleasant and user-friendly interface, as well as an integrated badge

13
238 Education and Information Technologies (2022) 27:229–241

system. The incorporation of gaming in education makes learning enjoyable, easy

to understand and accessible to students. Moreover, gaming activities are a great
source of motivation, since they bring fun into learning, by motivating students
to reach higher stages in the gameplay. These features are very beneficial at the
COVID-19 era, where synchronous distance learning (replacing the traditional
one) lasts for hours. As such, MGbL improves student engagement (MGbL ➔
SE), and consequently, both of them help to achieve better academic performance
(MGbL ➔ SP, SE ➔ SP).
Another interesting result, emerged from Quiz Time! evaluation, is that there is a
positive correlation with collaborative learning. Quiz Time! provides social interaction
capability, through which students collaborate as co-players towards the effective com-
pletion of a quiz. Gaming activities provide a fertile ground for collaboration between
peers. Through them, students can interact effectively with others, share knowledge
and develop problem-solving skills. Moreover, their satisfaction and self-esteem are
increased. Due to COVID-19 lockdown, the interaction with others is crucial for
dealing with loneliness and isolation. Hence, MGbL promotes collaborative learning
(MGbL ➔ CL), which also has a positive impact on student performance (CL ➔ SP).
Personalized learning is another important factor that affects both Quiz Time! and
students’ achievements. This educational practice allows learning and teaching to be
tailored to students’ needs and preferences. Thus, a learner-centric environment is
developed, helping students to accomplish effectively their learning goals. In our case,
Quiz Time! incorporates a personalized recommender module for co-players with the
aim of effective collaboration. Moreover, it provides tailored advice to learners for
ameliorating their knowledge level. This approach is very beneficial for learning dur-
ing COVID-19 lockdown, since the instructor can be absent. The evaluation results
support that the incorporation of personalization into MGbL has a positive impact on
the acceptance of this technology by students (PL ➔ MGbL) and that adaptive learn-
ing environments affects positively student performance (PL ➔ SP).
Finally, other influential factors are the perceived ease of use and perceived
enjoyment. Both factors are crucial for affecting positively students’ intention to
use a system. Especially, for MGbL applications, there are technical challenges
due to the small size of the devices they correspond to, and educational chal-
lenges regarding student motivation for learning. Quiz Time! has a user-friendly
interface, enabling students to use it without effort. Moreover, it provides multi-
media content and a gaming environment, attracting students to learn in an enjoy-
able way. Hence, students do not feel bored, even though the tutoring session lasts
for hours. The findings of this study show that perceived ease of use and per-
ceived enjoyment have a positive impact on student intention to use the MGbL
technology (PEoU ➔ MGbL, PE ➔ MGbL).

6 Conclusions

In the light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the field of education had to be transformed
and enriched with online technologies for the continuity of learning, due to the clo-
sure of educational institutions. In fact, there was a transition from face-to-face to

13
Education and Information Technologies (2022) 27:229–241 239

fully online synchronous instruction. In this new situation, from technological per-
spective, it is necessary that students have either a smart mobile device or a per-
sonal computer. From pedagogical perspective, it is essential to keep a high quality
of education and provide environments that engage students in the learning process.
To satisfy these requirements, the MGbL technology seems to be the ideal solu-
tion, since it requires a smart handheld device that most students have and motivates
learners through gaming.
To this direction, this study emphasizes the MGbL technology and explores its
utilization in higher education during COVID-19 lockdown. The findings reveal
that MGbL is an ideal educational practice toward COVID-19 outbreak, increas-
ing student engagement in learning process and improving academic outcomes.
Moreover, personalized and collaborative learning further support the effectiveness
of the MGbL technology. The results also show that perceive ease of use and per-
ceive enjoyment affect positively the intention to use MGbL, since students can use
it without effort and be motivated by the gameplay.
Limitations of this work include that it focuses on tertiary education students as
well as it assessed the utilization of MGbL but not compared to other approaches,
such as Learning Management Systems (LMSs), educational social networks etc.
This research serves for recommending instructors to enrich the tutoring process by
using alternative innovative approaches with strong pedagogical potential as well as
learners to be acquainted with novel technological tools and achieve their learning
objectives.
As future work, we intend to analyze new data of continuous flow due to the
ongoing lockdown and how student attitude toward MGbL technology is affected.
Also, we seek to analyze and interpret the individual survey questions. Our future
plans also include the utilization of MGbL in other domains during the pandemic.
Another interesting area for future investigation is the comparison of MGbL with
other online educational practices, such as LMSs, using the newly acquired data.

References
Agarwal, A., Sharma, S., Kumar, V., & Kaur, M. (2021). Effect of E-learning on public health and envi-
ronment during COVID-19 lockdown. Big Data Mining and Analytics, 4(2), 104–115.
Almaiah, M. A., Al-Khasawneh, A., & Althunibat, A. (2020). Exploring the critical challenges and fac-
tors influencing the E-learning system usage during COVID-19 pandemic. Education and Informa-
tion Technologies, 25, 5261–5280.
Amir, S., Kamal, M. S., Shahria, M. T., & Iftekhar, L. (2020). Facebook’s Social Learning Group for
Undergraduate Engineering Courses: A Case Study of Emergency Remote Teaching Amid Large
Digital Divide. In 2020 IEEE International Conference on Teaching, Assessment, and Learning for
Engineering (TALE), pp. 235-242.
Chang, C. Y., & Hwang, G. J. (2019). Trends in digital game-based learning in the mobile era: A system-
atic review of journal publications from 2007 to 2016. International Journal of Mobile Learning
and Organization, 13(1), 68–90.
Davis, F. (1989). Perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and user acceptance of information tech-
nology. MIS Quarterly, 13(3), 319–340. https://​doi.​org/​10.​2307/​249008.
Davis, F., Bagozzi, R., & Warshaw, P. (1992). Extrinsic and intrinsic motivation to use computers in the
workplace. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 22(14), 1111–1132.

13
240 Education and Information Technologies (2022) 27:229–241

Fornell, C., & Larcker, D. F. (1981). Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables
and measurement error. Journal of Marketing Research, 18(1), 39–50. https://​doi.​org/​10.​2307/​
31513​12.
Heflin, H., Shewmaker, J., & Nguyen, J. (2017). Impact of mobile technology on student attitudes,
engagement, and learning. Computers & Education, 107, 91–99.
Huizenga, J., Admiraal, W., Ten Dam, G., & Voogt, J. (2019). Mobile game-based learning in secondary
education: Students’ immersion, game activities, team performance and learning outcomes. Com-
puters in Human Behavior, 99, 137–143.
Iglesias-Pradas, S., Hernández-García, Á., Chaparro-Peláez, J., & Prieto, J. L. (2021). Emergency remote
teaching and students’ academic performance in higher education during the COVID-19 pandemic:
A case study. Computers in Human Behavior, 119, 106713.
Ionescu, C. A., Paschia, L., Gudanescu Nicolau, N. L., Stanescu, S. G., Neacsu Stancescu, V. M., Coman,
M. D., & Uzlau, M. C. (2020). Sustainability analysis of the E-learning education system during
pandemic period—COVID-19 in Romania. Sustainability, 12(21), 9030.
Krouska, A., & Virvou, M. (2020). An enhanced genetic algorithm for heterogeneous group formation
based on multi-characteristics in social networking-based learning. IEEE Transactions on Learning
Technologies, 13(3), 465–476.
Krouska, A., Troussas, C., & Virvou, M. (2019). SN-learning: An exploratory study beyond e-learning
and evaluation of its applications using EV-SNL framework. Journal of Computer Assisted Learn-
ing, 35, 168–177.
Krouska, A., Troussas, C., & Sgouropoulou, C. (2020a). A personalized brain-based quiz game for
improving students’ cognitive functions. In C. Frasson, P. Bamidis, & P. Vlamos (Eds.), Brain func-
tion assessment in learning. BFAL 2020. Lecture notes in computer science (Vol. 12462). Springer.
Krouska, A., Troussas, C., & Sgouropoulou, C. (2020b). Applying genetic algorithms for recommend-
ing adequate competitors in Mobile game-based learning environments. In V. Kumar & C. Trous-
sas (Eds.), Intelligent tutoring systems. ITS 2020. Lecture notes in computer science (Vol. 12149).
Springer.
Krouska, A., Troussas, C., & Sgouropoulou, C. (2020c). Usability and Educational Affordance of
Web 2.0 tools from Teachers’ Perspectives. In 24th Pan-Hellenic Conference on Informatics, pp.
107–110.
Lin, J., Zhao, Y., Liu, C., & Pu, H. (2020). Personalized Learning Service Based on Big Data for Educa-
tion. In 2020 IEEE 2nd International Conference on Computer Science and Educational Informati-
zation (CSEI), pp. 235-238.
Mahawan, K., & Langprayoon, P. (2020). The Effect of Blended Learning with Collaborative Learning
upon English Communication Skills of English Teaching Program Students. In 2020 5th Interna-
tional STEM Education Conference (iSTEM-Ed), pp. 55-58.
Mivehchi, L., & Rajabion, L. (2020). A framework for evaluating the impact of mobile games, techno-
logical innovation and collaborative learning on students’ motivation. Human Systems Management,
39(1), 27–36.
Moubayed, A., Injadat, M., Shami, A., & Lutfiyya, H. (2018). Relationship between student engagement
and performance in e-learning environment using association rules. In 2018 IEEE world engineer-
ing education conference (EDUNINE), pp. 1-6.
Muthuprasad, T., Aiswarya, S., Aditya, K. S., & Jha, G. K. (2021). Students’ perception and preference
for online education in India during COVID -19 pandemic. Social Sciences & Humanities Open,
3(1), 100101.
Panisoara, I. O., Lazar, I., Panisoara, G., Chirca, R., & Ursu, A. S. (2020). Motivation and continuance
intention towards online instruction among teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic: The mediat-
ing effect of burnout and technostress. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public
Health, 17(21), 8002.
Tawafak, R., AlFarsi, G., Jabbar, J., Malik, S. I., Mathew, R., AlSidiri, A., ..., Romli, A. (2021). Impact
of Technologies During COVID-19 Pandemic for Improving Behavior Intention to Use E-learning.
International Journal of Interactive Mobile Technologies (iJIM), 15(1), 184-198.
Troussas, C., Krouska, A., & Sgouropoulou, C. (2020a). Collaboration and fuzzy-modeled personaliza-
tion for mobile game-based learning in higher education. Computers & Education, 144, 103698.
Troussas, C., Krouska, A., Sgouropoulou, C., & Voyiatzis, I. (2020b). Ensemble learning using fuzzy
weights to improve learning style identification for adapted instructional routines. Entropy, 22(7),
p. 735.

13
Education and Information Technologies (2022) 27:229–241 241

Vargo, D., Zhu, L., Benwell, B., & Yan, Z. (2021). Digital technology use during COVID-19 pandemic:
A rapid review. Human Behavior and Emerging Technologies, 3(1), 13–24.
Xie, H., Chu, H. C., Hwang, G. J., & Wang, C. C. (2019). Trends and development in technology-
enhanced adaptive/personalized learning: A systematic review of journal publications from 2007 to
2017. Computers & Education, 140, 103599.
Xie, Y., Qiu, Y., Huang, Y., Li, J., Liu, Y., & Wu, J. (2020). The Construction and Effect of the MOOC-
based One Plus Three Teaching Model During the COVID-19 Pandemic. In 2020 Ninth Interna-
tional Conference of Educational Innovation through Technology (EITT), pp. 199-204.
Zakaria, N. Y., Zaini, H., Hamdan, F., & Norman, H. (2018). Mobile game-based learning for online
assessment in collaborative learning. International Journal of Engineering and Technology, 7,
80–85.

Publisher’s note  Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published
maps and institutional affiliations.

13